14 發光的城市 A R O U N D T O W N FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2008 • TIMES Hsu Ya-fen gets religion

new gezai opera by the Hsu Ya-fen Opera of the story is such that it can only be realized if had a strong moral dimension, so this move merely Company (許亞芬歌子戲劇坊) titled Dharma the time and the motivation are right,” Hsu said. brings some of the issues up to date. A Master Wu-Da’s Penance (慈悲三昧水懺) Although not originally a devout Buddhist, Hsu added In addition to pushing beyond the conventional premieres today at the Metropolitan Hall (城市舞台) in that the performance had faced many difficulties in limits of Chinese opera in terms of performance, Hsu While (周 Jolin Tsai, above, looked like a squid at Taipei City. While Buddhist themes are not unusual production, and it was her newly found commitment said that the company maintains a very active online 杰倫) basked in the music the . But at least in gezai opera, Hsu Ya-fen (許亞芬), the company to Buddhist practices and ideas that had helped her presence with a blog and comments board. “Many industry limelight with a batch she’s moved on from wannabe actor Eddie founder and star of the new opera, has taken work through them. “It has been a very educational young people write to reflect on what they have seen,” of nominations and gongs at the Peng, below. Photos: Taipei times the unusual step of taking monastic vows, albeit experience,” she said. she said. “Theater is a reflection on life, 19th Golden Melody Awards (第 temporarily, to better enter into the spirit of her role Hsu, who comes from a theatrical family, has been and to make people think about 十 九屆金曲獎) on Saturday, his Tsai’s good friend Little S (小 as Dharma Master Wu-Da (悟達國師). a gezai opera performer for two decades. She ways of living is really what we former girlfriend and rival, Jolin S) is having no trouble getting The opera tells the story of the monk Wu-Da who as opened her own company two years ago and are all about.” Tsai (蔡依林), has hit the skids. satisfaction, or so it seems from a humble aesthetic shows great compassion for those aims to extend the range of her performances — Ian Bartholomew She failed to receive one reports received from sources, around him, but after finding favor with the emperor to incorporate other performance styles. nomination in any major award who revealed to Next Magazine becomes arrogant and overbearing. Supernatural With Dharma Master Wu-Da’s Penance, she category, despite the critical that the mom-of-two and TV forces of retribution cause him to develop a terrible has already incorporated elements taken success of her Special Agent show hostess is a frequent visitor sore on his knee; this sore is able to speak and tells from opera and also some aspects of J (特務J) album, which was to her neighborhood sex shop. him of an evil deed committed in a past life, retribution traditional Chinese dance. released in September of last She strongly recommends for which had only been averted until this time due The participation of the Fo Guang Shan (佛 year, and she was the subject of the Ribbed Bullet, to many of to his goodness. Eventually, Dharma Master Wu-Da 光山) Buddhist organization has allowed this an all points bulletin issued by her friends, reportedly, although pacifies this apparition and finds redemption from his performance to grow into a major production, the fashion police for turning she has yet, as far as Pop Stop sins both past and present. He writes down the story with more than 30 performers and the support up to the awards ceremony is aware, failed to, publicly, er, of his arrogance and salvation as penance. The story of the Fo Guang Choir (佛光山合唱團) and the Fo in a NT$200,000 dress by plug the product on her show. takes place during the Tang Dynasty, the apogee of Guang Dun Hang Dance Troupe (人間敦煌舞藝團). Giambattista Valli, in which, The device, according to the Buddhist development in . “The Buddhist chanting and so on fit quite well with according to Chen Wan-ruo (陳婉 packaging, makes use of “HS In an interview with Taipei Times, Hsu said she gezai opera in musical terms, but we also needed 若), the former general manager III” technology that “allows had consulted with many monastics in preparing this to make sure the whole thing does not become of the Eelin (伊林) modeling you to choose vibration speeds opera, in the course of which she decided that she too solemn,” Hsu said. agency, she looked like a and thrilling motions to create wanted to fully engage with her role by the taking of Her company started out doing barbeque-ready squid on a stick. pure ecstasy.” This is probably monastic vows for the duration of the rehearsals and public service gezai operas against Worse still, her new album, not something that Peng could performances. the dangers of drug use and Etude of Love (愛的練習曲), which do, even on a good day, so Pop Hsu said her decision to take monastic vows, government corruption, was scheduled for a February Stop would advise Tsai to follow although temporary, had made it easier for her which proved enormously release, is being held up by EMI her friend’s advice, although in to understand the lives and attitudes of the monk successful with young for reasons unknown, and this the interests of full disclosure, she portrays, and made a real connection with the audiences. Gezia opera, has cost her, according to Next Pop Stop cannot vouch for the religious ideas that the original story of Dharma as with much traditional Magazine (壹周刊), an estimated product’s claims. Master Wu-Da’s Penance represents. “The nature Chinese opera, has always NT$20 million in lost earnings. While Tsai may be fretting The diva’s romantic life lies over the millions of dollars Performance Notes: in tatters, after her mother and she is losing because of EMI’s former beau ’s (彭于 prevarication, Chang Yun-ching What: Dharma Master Wu-Da’s Penance (慈悲三昧水懺) 晏) manager put the kibosh on the (張芸京), the winner of SetTV’s pair’s blossoming relationship. When: Today, tomorrow, July 18 and July 19 at 7:30pm, talent show Super Idol (超級偶 and Sunday and July 20 at 2:30pm (Taipei); July 25 and But, despite past bad blood, 像) is pulling her hair out over it looks as though Tsai is finding July 26 at 7:30pm, and July 27 at 2:30pm () the cash that has reportedly been 城市舞台 moral support from old boy- Where: Metropolitan Hall ( ), 25, Bade Rd Sec 3, Gezai star Hsu Ya-fen shaved her skimmed off her income by her 台北市八德路三段 號 friend Chou, who is encourag- Taipei City ( 25 ); Kaohsiung City Labor hair and took monastic vows agents, which has left her without 高雄市政府勞工局勞工育樂中心 ing her to follow his example Recreation Center ( ), 132 for her role as Dharma Master enough even to pay the rent on Chungshan 3rd Rd, Chienchen Dist, Kaohsiung City (高雄 Wu-Da. and start her own production her NT$5,000-a-month room. 市前鎮區中山三路132號) Photo courtesy of the Hsu Ya-fen Opera Company company. The pair got into some Next Magazine reports she tit-for-tat sniping over the sales Tickets: NT$500 to NT$3,000 (Taipei); NT$300 to has yet to receive her prize NT$2,500 (Kaohsiung), available through ERA ticketing or figures for Special Agent J late money, and her agents are last year, with Chou claiming from the venue netting 60 percent of all her other On the Net: www.yafenopera.com they had been inflated, and that earnings, leaving the former his own album, On the Run (我 graphic designer with little more 很忙), released at the same time, take-home pay than she had had really outsold Tsai’s. received from her office job. For all the smiles, it’s a tough world A rumble and a tumble in Nangang out there in showbiz land, and wannabe celebrities need to hone he K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in winners will go on to compete in the K-1 their survival skills to make it Taipei takes place on Sunday at finals in Tokyo at the end of the year. through the snake pit of corporate T the World Trade Center in Nangang. K-1 combines elements of kung fu, interests behind the cameras, No local competitors have entered the kickboxing, karate, taekwondo and just as they need to impress the Grand Prix section, which will be held other martial arts, with many of the judges in front of them. in for the first time. fights ending in a knockout.  — compiled by ian The man to beat is 2007 K-1 World Up-and-coming talents participating  bartholomew finalist Ruslan Karaev, who’ll enter the in the Taipei elimination-round bouts ring in quarterfinal action against the include Young Hyun Kim (South Korea), Top Five Mandarin AlbumS June 27 to July 3 relatively unknown Tatsufumi Tomihira. Saiseelek Nor-Seepun (Thailand) and Aleksandr Pichkunov, another favorite, Zhang Qing-jun (張慶軍, China). Jam Hsiao (蕭敬騰) and Jam Hsiao (蕭敬騰) first faces Japan’s Nobu Hayashi. Complimenting the Grand Prix 1 with 15.23 percent of retail sales The K-1 World GP ‘08 Asia Final is action are three K-1 Superfights. an eight-man elimination tournament. The K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Yoga Lin (林宥嘉) and Bouts are contested under K-1 rules, Taipei will be held Sunday at Taipei 2 Mystery Guest (神秘嘉賓) with 7.89% with each consisting of three, three- World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition minute rounds. Hall (台北世界貿易中心南港展覽館), 1 Elva Hsiao (蕭亞軒) and Three Faced (三面夏娃) with 6.29% The winner of the Taipei elimination Jingmao 2nd Rd, Nangang Dist, Taipei 3 tournament will go on to compete in the City (台北市南港區經貿二路1號), beginning Tsai Rung-tsung (蔣榮宗) and Asia K-1 Final Elimination Grand Prix, at 4:30pm. NT$1,000 to NT$8,000 tickets Magic Music College (魔法音樂學院) with 5.88% scheduled to take place in Seoul on Sept. are available through ERA ticketing. 4 29. Winners from that competition will Detailed information can be found at Semmy “Hightower” Schilt, right, a 212cm-tall, 137.4kg powerhouse from the Netherlands, lands a Claire Kuo (郭靜) and The Next Dawn (下一個天亮 ) with 5.38% head to the K-1 World GP elimination www.k-1.co.jp/k-1gp/top858.htm. knee strike on Glaube “Brazilian Kicks” Feitosa in last year’s K-1 World Grand Prix Finals. 5 rounds in Osaka, from which eight  — Noah Buchan Photo courtesy of Brokers Brothers Herald Album chart compiled from G-Music (www.g-music.com.tw), based on retail sales

[ EVENTS & ENTERTAINMENT ]

Tomorrow at 7:30pm inspired by T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. B1, 77, Wuchang St Sec 2, Taipei City Tickets are NT$300 to NT$1,100, The concert includes performances (台北市武昌街二段77號B1) Theater available through NTCH ticketing of Lin Kuei-ju’s (林桂如) Music Theater: Show begins at 10pm The Homecoming is a Harold Pinter HIGHLIGHT Belonging (音樂劇場:離心的居所 ) and Entrance fee is NT$300 play that tells the story of an English The three-day Ho-Hai-Yan Gung-Liau Rock Chung Yiu-kwong’s (鍾耀光) The Fire married couple who return to Albion Festival (台北縣貢寮國際海洋音樂祭) begins at Fulong Sermon (火誡). after a prolonged absence. Their Beach (福隆海灘) this afternoon with more than 50 bands Today at 7:30pm Appearing tonight at Center homecoming to the husband’s family Classical music scheduled to play throughout the weekend, among Forum Auditorium (十方樂集音樂劇 Stage (formerly the Living Room, home, where his father and three them some of Taiwan’s top indie-rock groups and artists 場演奏廳), 4, Ln 187, Minzu W Rd, now under new management) is brothers tease each other in a battle Family Concert — The Magic from France, Switzerland and Japan. Tonight features Taipei City (台北市民族西路187巷4號) Gross Fugue, which combines “an of one-upmanship, reeks of sexual and Fairly Tale Fox (管風琴親子音樂 established independent bands from Taiwan, , Tickets are NT$250, available through intense rock show, electronic dance violent innuendo and challenges the 會—魔力童話箱) is a regular popular and China: Mojo, AniDa and Gloria Tang, 88 Balaz ERA ticketing music, and edgy videos,” and Ilan morality of family life. event for which highly regarded (88芭樂仔), (張懸), Crowd Lu, Queen County-based expat rockers Sons of Guling Street Theater (牯嶺街小劇場), musicians are brought together by Sea Big Shark (后海大鯊魚), and Sodagreen (蘇打綠), Indie rockers 88 Balaz play tonight at the the Ho-Hai-Yan Rock Homer. Tomorrow it’s Barrelhouse 2, Ln 5, Guling St, Taipei City (台北市牯 NTCH to perform popular classics. which won the Golden Melody Award for best band for Festival at Fulong Beach. Photo courtesy of Taiwan Colors Music Fire, whose music “explores the less 嶺街5巷2號) On this occasion, the music will be the second time in a row last Saturday. to attend this year. They are encouraging festivalgoers traveled terrain of the blues, from Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm; accompanied by performances from Tomorrow there’s a battle-of-the-bands competition, to travel by train and to use the area’s camping facilities. Contemporary ragtime to Delta fingerstyle and tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm Eyuan Puppet Theater (一元偶戲團). followed by a set from last year’s winner, the taike band Additional trains have been scheduled to run between beyond.” Tickets are NT$300, available through Today at 7:30pm Children Sucker (表兒). On Sunday, it’s the international Taipei and Fulong today, tomorrow and Sunday. Trains The Taipei International Jazz 3F, 8, Nanjing E Rd Sec 5, Taipei City NTCH ticket outlets National Concert Hall, Taipei City lineup, which includes US-Taiwanese electro rockers run approximately every 30 to 45 minutes, with the last Festival continues with a free show (台北市南京東路五段8號3樓). Call (02) Tickets are NT$400 to NT$800, Jindowin, Korean rock group Phonebooth, Swiss train from Fulong to Taipei departing at 12:10am. Visit tomorrow night at the outdoor square 8787-4154 or visit www.myspace.com/ Water, cobwebs, bubbles and dry ice available through NTCH ticketing metal band Djizoes, Japanese punk rockers Dum-Dum www.railway.gov.tw/index.htm for a detailed schedule. in front of Taipei Zhongshan Hall (台北 taipeicenterstage for more information are some of the methods Slava’s Dan, Australian-Chinese alt-rock chanteuse Ho-Hai-Yan Rock Festival 市中山堂). Featured performers include Shows start at 10pm Snow Show uses to wow audiences. ABQ Farewell Concerts in Taipei (楊乃文) and French electronica act Zombie Zombie. Tonight, starting at 4:30pm; tomorrow and Sunday, Wish Project ‘08, a quartet inspired NT$200 entrance fee There are also clowns and a snow — In Memory of Mr and Mrs Hsu See Taipei Times, July 7, 2008, Page 13 for a full festival starting at 4pm by the 1993 jazz album Wish, by blizzard of confetti that blankets Yuan-tung (阿班貝爾格四重奏世界 preview. Admission is free saxophonist Joshua Redman. Brussel Visiting from France, jazz guitar and the audience in this award-winning 告別—許遠東先生暨夫人紀念音樂會) Organizers say more than 400,000 people are expected On the Net: www.hohaiyan.com Van Taipeh, a Taiwanese quintet that trombone duet OrBe and a piano and tragicomedy that follows the life of a is a quartet performance comprising studied jazz together in Belgium is also dance trio Voy appear at Sappho clown who tries to find meaning in a Gunter Pichler and Gerhard Schulz on playing. See Page 13 of the June 20, de Base tonight. (See story on Page hostile world. violin, Isabel Charisius on viola and (女高音黃莉錦獨唱會), a student at the Tomorrow and Sunday at 7:30pm Kaohsiung Cultural Center’s Chih-Teh 2008, edition of the Taipei Times for 15 of today’s Taipei Times.) Tomorrow National Theater, Taipei City Valentin Erben on cello playing two Conservatoire National Superieur de National Concert Hall, Taipei City Hall (高雄市立文化中心至德堂), 67 the full festival preview. it’s Texas-style electric blues with Tonight and tomorrow at 7:30pm; concerts in memory of Hsu Yuan-tung, Musique et de Danse de Paris who Tickets are NT$400 to NT$600, Wufu 1st Rd, Kaohsiung City, (高雄市五 98 Yenping S Rd, Taipei City (台北市 Black Sheep. On Tuesday night the tomorrow at 2:30pm; Sunday at the former director of the Central Bank has won many international awards. available through NTCH ticketing 福一路67號) 延平南路98號) Grace Jazz Trio plays a set, with an 1:30pm and 6pm of China. She’ll perform a program that includes Tickets are NT$150, available through Performance begins at 6:30pm open jam session afterwards. Michael Tickets are NT$800 to NT$3,600, Tomorrow and Sunday at 7:30pm arias by Handel, Mozart and Puccini, 2008 Chung-Lin Lee Flute ERA ticketing No entrance fee McLaughlin presents his jazz project available through NTCH ticketing National Concert Hall, Taipei City Three Dickinson Songs by Previn and Recital — French Tradition Tall Boy on Wednesday, and on Tickets are NT$500 to NT$5,000, songs by Debussy. On Sunday, there’s (2008 李宗霖長笛獨奏會「左岸時 Forum Music’s Music E-Touch The Antidote Shanghai 2008, a Thursday DJ Zulu spins what he calls Heart of Ocean (海洋之心) is available through NTCH ticketing a recital by countertenor Chuang 光」) sees flautist Lee Chung-lin 李宗( (十方樂集Music E-Touch) is part DJ collective from Shanghai, spins “timeless and positive black sounds.” a diabolo dance performance by Cheng-ying (假聲男高音莊承穎獨唱會), 霖) performing works by Boismortier, of an ongoing series of concerts in Taipei tonight at the VU Live B1, 1, Ln 102, Anhe Rd Sec 1, Taipei Diabolo Dance Theater (舞鈴劇場) that 2008 Young Stars Series (2008兩 a Birmingham Conservatoire graduate Devienne, Borne and Jolivet, that features experimental music. House (地下絲絨). The line-up City (台北市安和路一段102巷1號B1). portrays life underwater. 廳院樂壇新秀) is a sequence of who has won many awards in Taiwan. accompanied by pianist Hsieh Shu-ya This year’s concert showcases the includes all-female electro-rock band Call (02) 2700-5411 (after 9pm) or visit Kaohsiung Cultural Center’s Chih-Teh concerts to be held through the His program includes opera arias by (謝舒雅). A second concert will be held work of Georges Aperghis, the Go Chic, DJ Trix vs. Shaolinpunk, www.sappho102.biz for more Hall (高雄市立文化中心至德堂), 67 coming week showcasing emerging Handel and Britten, and songs by at the Forum Auditorium (十方樂集音樂 French composer who is known for DJ D.Soto, DJ Ozone and DJ information Wufu 1st Rd, Kaohsiung City, (高雄市五 local talents. Tomorrow’s performance Brahms, Debussy and Ravel, as well as 劇場演奏廳) in Taipei City next Friday. his experimental music theater and Funkstar. See story on Page 15 of Performances begin at 10:30pm 福一路67號) is a recital by soprano Huang Li-chin some Chinese folk songs. Today at 7:30pm whose Les Geutteurs de Sons was today’s Taipei Times. No entrance fee